Ethnographic Overview And Assessment: Zion National Park, Utah ...

This study identifies Southern Paiute ecosystem values and recommends ways that the
ecosystems can be physically and spiritually restored.
* Ecosystem management involves identifying a shared vision of desired
future ecosystem conditions that integrate ecological, economic, and
social factors.
Southern Paiute people have shared in this study their vision of what
these ecosystems were under traditional Paiute management, what
occurred to the natural resources and the Paiute people after
encroachment, and how to begin to reassemble and restore the
components of the ecosystems, including reintegrating Paiute people.
* Ecosystem management seeks common solutions by forming
partnerships between Federal, state, and local governments, Indian
tribes, landowners and other stakeholders.
Before this study began, a partnership between the two parks and the six Southern Paiute
tribes was established by a government-to-government agreement. This study contains tribal
government recommendations for continuing this NPS partnership and further involving private
landowners, state agencies, and other Federal agencies. Therefore, this applied ethnography
study had the advantage of beginning with a study design that contained many of these essential
components of ecosystem management. Once the study began, however, it was the responsibility
of the applied ethnographers to use and hopefully build upon past scientific findings and theories
from studies of the human-ecosystem interface.
1.2 Science of the Human-Ecosystem Interface
People are the newest and certainly the most difficult component to incorporate in the
ecosystem approach. This situation probably occurs because Federal land management
agencies have more experience managing the resources than understanding and managing the
resource users. This legacy has left many Federal agencies with a gap in both information about
kinds of people and experience working with communities, organizations, and American Indian
tribes. Nonetheless, filling this gap is essential if the new ecosystem approach is to succeed.
Everywhere, park rangers and other natural resource scientists are grappling with what
they call the human dimension of ecosystem management. According to a recent ecosystem
management report by the Forest Service (Forest Service 1995:7), the term human dimension
refers to:
An integral component of Ecosystem Management that recognizes that people
are part of ecosystems, that people's pursuits of past, present, and future desires,
needs and values (including perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors) have
and will continue to influence ecosystems and that ecosystem management
must include consideration of the physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, social,
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